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You can kiss me, you know.
The exhalation is fire against his lips, dangerous and tantalizing.
A meteor hovering above the planet.
Cloud grips her waist, holding her closer than he or any man should have the right to.
There's familiarity in the proximity, in her, but he's positive he's never come so far—never dared—with anyone.
He'd fantasized, sure. Plenty of times. In his earlier years it was the girl next door, who existed always just outside his reach; it was Tifa Lockhart, the earthly ideal he could never, would never touch.
Past optimism is painted over with tension and guilt. They exchange smiles and call themselves friends, and that's enough. Fighting side by side for the world, it's enough. Cloud finds it the most heart-wrenching to be around her when she's feeling all nostalgic and needy, when she wants to reminisce about the old days. He prefers keeping distance between who he was back then and what he's trying to accomplish now. It just makes things easier to bear between them.
Easier to work alongside AVALANCHE without so much baggage in the way. He thought he was beginning to find a comfortable stride with it all but now, perplexingly, there's Aerith, otherwise known as the upheaval of all his simple plans. With her, there isn't even a concept of distance or boundaries. She simply does not allow it.
She is beyond comprehension.
Why? Why is she here? And how dare she when not even his childhood friend could stand to look into his eyes and accept how he's changed or what he's become—why does Aerith? What merit could she possibly see in him?
He's wanted on so many occasions to make her answer for everything she forces him to feel and think. Occasions when he'd look and she'd just be there like the spot was always hers to claim and then linger as though in promise that she always would.
He doesn't ask, his fingers quake.
There's no way she'd be there forever.
He's trembling.
He's furious.
Fate awaits their next move. Aerith's chest swells as she draws in an audible breath that he swears he can almost taste.
At the verge of some sort of understanding, Cloud crashes his mouth down to hers.